This is one part of the work that really lights me up.
Over the years I’ve planned and produced hundreds of events: government functions, nonprofit fundraisers, corporate summits, and worldwide retreats and trainings, from small gatherings to thousands of people. A few favorites:
- Helping pull together fourteen events in four days at the Democratic National Convention — on four weeks’ notice.
- Community and political events on behalf of the Seattle Mayor, including a screening of An Inconvenient Truth with Vice President Al Gore, the first ever National Mayor’s Climate Summit which included President Bill Clinton and a gathering for Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.
- International supplier summits for Boeing, and a fundraising campaign for Mercy Corps built from scratch in six weeks.
- One of my all-time favorites, a week-long conference for the Association of Space Explorers. Where Astronauts and Cosmonauts who have circled the earth at least once come together to share updates on the experiments they completed in space, then spend a day visiting local schools to encourage students toward STEM.
- Worldwide retreats, seminars and online trainings for wellness and personal-development clients. The same logistics muscle, in a very different room.
From Idea to Opening Night:
I’ve designed and managed just about every type and size of event you can imagine, from start to finish, which means I’m just as comfortable at the idea stage as I am the day of. A typical event in my hands includes:
- Shaping the concept and vision into a workable plan and budget
- Finding and contracting the venue
- Sourcing and managing caterers, vendors and other partners
- Invitations, marketing materials and RSVP management
- Décor, banquet orders and run-of-show
- Managing relationships with sponsors, venues and dignitaries
- Day-of production — and handling whatever comes up in real time
Let someone who genuinely loves this work carry it, the venue contracts, the caterer calls, the seating chart nobody else wants to think about, so you can stay focused on your mission, your message and your guests.
Retreats, Trainings & Fundraisers:
Not every event I love is a political gathering, corporate summit or fundraiser. I’ve spent just as much time in the retreat and wellness world planning international retreats and workshops, launching online courses and trainings (at least five every month), and helping healers, sound practitioners and yoga teachers bring their in-person and virtual gatherings to life. I’ve also raised funds the old-fashioned way, from a school’s first-ever fundraising event to a national nonprofit campaign built in six weeks flat.
If you’re leading a retreat, training or fundraiser and want someone who can hold the spreadsheet and the spirit of the thing at the same time, that’s exactly where I come in.
What ties all of it together isn’t the size of the room or the world it’s in, it’s the same thing that shows up in every part of my work: a sense for what a moment needs before anyone has to ask, and the calm to handle it when three things go sideways at once.
Have an event that needs someone who’s done this before? I’d love to hear about it.
